Louisiana State Penitentiary inmate Darrell Gertenschologer, 74, is serving a life sentence and living out his days in the prison hospice.

Written by

Kevin Johnson and H. Darr Beiser
USA TODAY

For decades, the Louisiana State Penitentiary has taken great pride in its vast farming operations, as well as its reputation as one of the toughest lockups in America.

The crops and cattle raised by prisoners on the remote 18,000 acres ringed by razor wire have long gone to feed Angola's 5,000 inmates, with enough left over to stock the novelty hot sauce and jelly products sold in the prison museum.

Yet Warden Burl Cain said something is happening on "the farm" that threatens the bounty it reaps every year. ...